Taiga

A couple of accepted facts about Richard Coker‘s music. It’s intended to intellectually challenge you. It’s never gonna be included in anyone’s happy meal or designated to be a best-selling ringtone. Nor would Coker want either of those last two possibilities, but he would be happy to know his music can challenge the listener.

When he and I last discussed his music back in 2009, at one point Coker said: “Modern America suffers from the post-modern malaise of pop culture.” That comment was not directed at me or my interests, but I do think it could apply to me.

Coker is a musician always looking to challenge himself as well as his music. It’s interesting to see that some of the cuts in his new 2011 CD, Taiga, are updated versions of songs he cut for 2009′s Loa [Updated: Coker made me aware that Loa was never actually released; Taiga is the only released version of these songs]. I’ve not had a chance to side-by-side comparisons.

But I know of myself, in recent days I got Bob Mould’s old band, Sugar, in my head. This may surprise Coker, but honestly some of the more intense acoustic guitar-based songs remind me of Sugar–and that’s a compliment in my book. In listening to Coker’s lyrics, at least for me, I have to consider the music and lyrics separately. The lyrics are so complex, you can find yourself almost missing out on the music.  After about three or four listens, cuts 4 (X) and 5 (Ymir) are two of my favorite cuts so far. But I bet if you ask me in another week, my answer will be likely different.

If you want to hear samples of each song, be sure to visit this Digstation site for Taiga.

Additional update: After further consideration, I realize that in addition to a Mould vibe, there’s also an element of Dead Can Dance introptopesimism (a mixture of introspective contemplation, optimism and pessimism) and just a smidge of Velvet Underground. His music and lyrics cannot be confined by a certain genre or other classification.